


A Couple of Hot Tomatoes

by psychomachia



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: M/M, Maintenance Process is a Turn-on for Robot/AI Character, Minutemen-Aligned Sole Survivor, Post-Canon, wireplay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-13
Updated: 2020-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:29:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23127808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/psychomachia/pseuds/psychomachia
Summary: Nick gets kidnapped. Only Nate would see it as the perfect opportunity for romance.
Relationships: Male Sole Survivor/Nick Valentine
Comments: 6
Kudos: 98
Collections: Teratophilia Trade 2020





	A Couple of Hot Tomatoes

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Masu_Trout](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Masu_Trout/gifts).



“Look, before you do anything we might both regret, why don't we just try and solve this without violence?” Nate smiles, all charm and smoothness and definitely not hiding a shotgun behind his back. 

Nick's got a long list of things he has to do, but right up there with solving the Keely case and talking Ellie into taking some time off to go see her mother, he's got to stop getting kidnapped. He can't just keep having Nate ride in like some knight in shining power armor to save the day. Makes it look like Nick can't take care of himself. 

The thug grunts. “Looks like we don't got anything to talk about. We got a dirty rotten synth here that we got to take care of.” He's got his gun pointed at Nick's head and if he had a dollar for every time that happened... maybe Nick could afford to pay his rent. 

“Hey, you should take up my line of work,” Nick says. “That kind of deduction--”

He gets a pistol whip to the face for his troubles, but really, if that was the sort of thing that stopped Nick from mouthing off, he wouldn't become a detective. It's one of the perks of the job, right up there with terrible coffee and helping people out. 

“See, this is the kind of thing I'm talking about.” Nate keeps smiling. “You start off right away by throwing around insults, making assumptions, and just being plain wrong. Nick's not a threat to you. So why don't you just let him go and we'll be on our way. Then you can back to making bootleg liquor or running crooked gambling or whatever it is you're up to, Joey. Is your name, Joey?”

“No.”

Nate shrugs. “I'm still going to call you that. So how about it? Let's call it a day and everyone gets to walk away.”

“Ain't no one walkin' away,” Joey snaps. “Not this bucket of bolts here and not you either.” He sneers a little, “Don't tell me he's a friend or something. Nobody's friends with shit like this.”

“Of course not.” Nate actually bats his eyes a little and it should not be nearly as attractive as it is. “He's my boyfriend.”

Both Joey and Nick stare at Nate. Nick doesn't say anything, too busy trying to figure out this new piece of data, but Joey? “What the—you're fucking him?” He starts laughing. “You that desperate. I heard about guys like you, but I thought they went for the prettier models.”

“What can I say? I got a thing for antiques,” Nate winks. “Don't knock it until you try it. I get him off and then he gets me off and...” he trails off suggestively. 

“What the--” Joey splutters. He glares at Nick, his hand wavering, but realizes Nate's getting a little too close for his comfort and steadies his gun. “Don't see how he could. Everyone knows that these old wrecks are nothing but useless junk. Don't even have the balls to--”

A shotgun blast to the face interrupts him. 

Nate sighs. “See, this is why we can't ever have a peaceful negotiation. Someone says something that wasn't very nice and definitely prejudiced and then there's nothing you can do but shut him up.”

“You know you can't solve all your problems with a bullet,” Nick says as Nate begins untying him. 

“Yeah, I know, but there's a lot of them I can.” Nate's looking him up and down, all worried concern. “Are you all right?”

“I'm fine,” Nick says. It's mostly true. There's some wiring that'll have to get fixed and some diagnostics he hasn't been able to get time to run since Joey got the drop on him, but as kidnappings go, it was amateur at best. That's what happens when you're too busy trying to torture someone and not thinking about things like putting a guy at the door or not pissing off a man who's brought the Commonwealth raider population down to an endangered species. 

Nate looks away for a second. “So, uh, about what I said...” 

“Oh, that. It was a good play.” It hurts to say this, but Nick's used to pain. It's the oldest friend he has. “Get him so flustered he lets his guard down. Don't worry. I know you didn't mean it.”

“The thing is I...” Nate swallows, meets Nick's eyes. “I kind of did.”

Nick's left silent. 

“I--I know you're not currently my boyfriend,” Nate stammers when the quiet grows too awkward for him., “but look, you know how you asked if there was any machine I couldn't charm? Turns out, I'm really hoping you're not one of those exceptions. “

He's serious, Nick realizes, and damn, he really needs to brush up his deductive skills because that hit him like a supermutant. Nate could have his pick of anyone in the Commonwealth – he's the beloved general of the Minuteman, the man who took down both the Brotherhood of Steel and the Institute, the guy who's made friends of synths and ghouls and just about damn near anybody who isn't a complete asshole (and sometimes, even then). 

Why would he pick someone like him, a down on his luck detective who's got more than one ghost rattling around in his skull? 

“Nick?” Nate's voice is shaky. “If I've offended you, I'm sorry. Sometimes, I think things and then when I say them, they come up a lot different than intended. I'm not just into you because I like machines. I mean, I really do like them a lot, next to blowing shit up, but most of all, I really like you. I want you.”

That is possibly the dumbest and most romantic confession Nick has ever heard. “Well, how about that,” he says. “Looks like you do know how to say the right thing once in a while.”

It's Nate's turn to look confused, before he begins to grin. “So what do you say, Nick? Care to do some maintenance with me right now?”

“I'm not sure you know how this works,” Nick says. “Do you think I'm that kind of girl?”

“I know you're not,” Nate says, coming in closer. “But I was hoping that for me, you might be willing to count our trips out to save radio announcers and search abandoned police stations and maybe save an entire island as some quality dates.”

Oh, hell. It's not like Nick hasn't felt... something ever since a pretty guy with a great set of legs waltzed in and saved his life. This is why Nick has got to stop getting kidnapped. It's just giving Nate more ways to show off. 

And damn, if it doesn't work every single time. Look, Nate may be wanting to get into Nick's trenchcoat with a disturbing quickness, but letting him twist in the wind while neither of them gets some is the kind of thinking that leads to a vault dweller moping around Sanctuary while everyone glares at Nick like it's his fault. 

Nate really is far too likable for his own good. 

“You do know,” Nick says dryly, “that it's not just as simple as tab a into slot b. Joey was an idiot, but he wasn't wrong. Us older models, they weren't exactly concerned with our pleasure.”

Nate actually blushes. “Yeah, about that,” he says. “See, I kind of went up to Far Harbor to have a chat with your brother...”

“You talked to DiMA?” That's it. Nick's never going to be able to look him in the face again. He'll be so patient, so kind, so “I'm so proud of you, Nick, for finding a way to bond with humanity.” 

“Not exactly.” Nate scratches his head. “See, I started to ask him, and then I chickened out because he's your brother and how weird is it asking him for sex tips, so I made up some excuse and split. But then Faraday overheard and gave me some advice.”

Nick needs a stiff drink. “I don't even want to think about that,” he says. “Anyhow, he's a synth too. How does that help you out?”

“There were diagrams, okay?” Nate says. “And I think I can improvise the rest.” He waggles his fingers. “Don't I always have the magic touch?”

“Never say that again,” Nick answers, but he does let Nate go behind him while he makes some internal adjustments. Up sensitivity in certain vectors. Release access panel and authorize user to reconfigure certain areas. Hope for the best. 

He takes off his trenchcoat, sets it gently aside. Nate better appreciate the sacrifice he's making right now. 

Nate reaches into Nick's lower back panel, now exposed to the open air. He reaches in delicately, runs a finger along a wire. Then another one. 

Nick shudders in response as a circuit in his brain lights up like it's the 4th of July in Diamond City. There's a jolt that runs down his back and if he shocks Nate, well, he should have seen it coming. 

But Nate's not just touching wires there. No, he's got his eyes on the mother lode and maybe they should give Faraday some tech to play with if they return to Far Harbor because Nate just circled his finger around that port and oh, yes. 

“Don't just stop there,” Nick says. “I know you like to tease, but if you're with me, you're in it for the long haul.”

“Wouldn't dream of it,” Nate chuckles, and he carefully inserts his finger all the way into the port. He deftly manipulates some more wires with his other fingers, sliding them into place. There's something beautiful about a man that knows his way around circuitry and Nate's not kidding when he says he's got the touch. He moves through it like a synthetic Casanova, his hands a lot more persuasive than his words are. 

Oh, that's the spot. How long has it been since anyone touched that jack? Nate's got Nick closing his eyes and not moaning, not in the slightest, but when he sticks that wire in and twists? That's talent you just can't buy these days, not even in Goodneighbor. 

Yeah, it's been a while, he thinks. A really long time since I felt like this. 

Nick's been meaning to do this maintenance for some time, but well, you can't just ask anyone to do this. There's only a handful of people he could even trust, and less that would be able to pull it off. Usually, Dr. Amani's pretty good about it and he turns down the sensitivity as much as he can. Otherwise, they end up with her saying it's perfectly normal, don't worry about, it happens all the time, and he can't look at her for a month afterwards.

But now that Nate's doing it? The sky's the limit. He's twisting wires back into their spots and Nick's going along, riding it down all the way until he's shuddering in pleasure, making some truly embarrassing noises that Nate better pretend he didn't hear or he'll be lucky if Nick ever lets him do even a simple diagnostic. 

Of course, Nate's making some pretty noises of his own. Nick's got a good idea of what he looks like, hand down his pants, rubbing himself with one hand as the other one touches places deep inside Nick and he's enough of a sap that he'll want them both to come together. 

Well, he's going to have to learn some patience. He's not done yet back there. 

And if Nick has his way, he won't be done for a very long time.

**Author's Note:**

> Seriously, Bethesda, my inability to romance Nick is how I knew you didn't understand why people play Fallout.


End file.
